N. Ilinois Veterans and Military Families Invited to Unique Benefits, Resources Fair

Head's up, Northern Illinois.

All current and/or former members of the military; military family members; representatives or members of a veterans service organization; service or resource providers of any sort or stripe whose work includes supporting military/veteran clients; student veterans; and interested supporters are invited to attend a special Benefits/Informational Fair next week.

Organized not by the VA or other such entity, but rather by members of the NIU Veterans Club for their fellow area battle buddies, the first such campus gathering is set to offer the typical and atypical.

This weekend, I received a lively update on preparations from club Vice President and key event coordinator, Aaron Stahly.

"It's going to be special," Stahly said. "We're trying to make it a little more fun and useful than the usual benefits fair people are familiar with."

I'm impressed with what they're putting together for the community, which includes outlying areas west of Chicago, greater DeKalb and Rockford, Illinois.

Combat Clips: A Selection of OEF/OIF Veteran Study Statistics, January 2010

News clips examining recent PTSD, TBI and other combat trauma or deployment-related study insights. First, Jennifer Thomas for HealthDay via BusinessWeek:

War isn't just tough on soldiers. Army wives whose husbands were deployed have higher rates of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health issues than the wives of soldiers who stayed home, a new study shows.

Researchers looked at the medical records of more than 250,000 wives, accounting for most women married to active-duty U.S. Army personnel. Between 2003 and 2006, about 34 percent of the women's husbands deployed for one to 11 months, 35 percent deployed for longer than 11 months, while 31 percent of soldiers were not sent overseas.

Among wives of soldiers deployed for up to 11 months, researchers found almost 3,500 more diagnoses of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health issues than among wives who[se] husbands stayed home.

Click on image above to see Mansfield discuss study.

A 10-Minute Winter's Break

Time for a little breather? After clicking off on the ad as the clip begins, this YouTube video turns into a relaxing and fun break (esp. for those of us in the north with snow on the ground).



I always get a hankering to get away somewhere warm right about now. Virtually drifting off to Florida to listen to the ocean waves and watch the birds play on the beach is...ahhhhh!

US Military Responds to Haiti Disaster

"When the freedom they wished for most was the freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again." -- Edith Hamilton (1867-1963), USA

President Obama and our military have begun humanitarian ops in Haiti, and roughly 10,000 troops will be stationed in the area by Monday. While the strain on forces and milfamilies needs to be relieved (and this isn't going to help), we must respond.

David Martin, CBS News:



In extended, preserving a few press reports related to the military's humanitarian work in Haiti right now. The first entry is especially stat and data rich.